Plato was an ancient Greek philosopher whose dialogues explore questions about virtue, knowledge, justice, and how to live well. He founded the Academy in Athens, an influential school of philosophy. This saying is widely attributed to him, but its source is uncertain: it does not have a reliably identified passage in his surviving works. The wording may be a modern paraphrase or a saying later attached to his name, so it is best not to treat it as a confirmed quotation from a particular dialogue.
The thought is that wealth is not simply a matter of owning more; it can mean wanting less and finding satisfaction in what is enough. The second half sharpens the point: if our desires keep growing, or if what we pursue cannot meet our deeper needs, accumulation will never bring lasting contentment. That idea resonates in a culture that often equates success with having more—more money, more things, more recognition. It offers a different measure of richness: a settled sense of sufficiency. The line does not suggest that material security is unimportant. Rather, it reminds us that possessions alone cannot guarantee fulfillment, and that learning what genuinely matters may be a more dependable form of wealth.